Why Does Wendy Kopp Address Institute With Racist Ties?

The Chancellor’s New Clothes writes:

Who can forget the infamous book entitled “The Bell Curve” by Richard J. Herrnstein and American Enterprise Institutes’ Charles Murray, which made the assertion that intelligence is a predictor of income and success. The book also argued that some differences between racial groups has to do with intelligence, citing lower test scores among African Americans as a possible indicator of genetic inferiority.One, therefore has to question the philosophy of an organization whose members possess such overtly racist beliefs.

It is interesting to note, therefore, that the so-called “educational reformers” who have the most direct influence over schools and school systems which serve minority children, really seem to like the American Enterprise Institute:

Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, the organization who sends in temporary teachers to work in low income schools districts is hailed by AEI

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An Insider Takes On TFA’s Classroom Effectiveness

Alexander Russo writes:

Plucked from obscurity by a mention in last September’s New York Times Magazine article about TFA, UCLA doctoral student Megan Hopkins is no stranger to the highly-touted program. She was a 2002 corps member in Phoenix.

Her critique of the organization is in the latest Kappan. Now, Hopkins tells us what it’s really like to go up against the TFA machine — without tenure.

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The problem lies in Kopp’s “most influential” status. As long as we pretend she knows what to do, others won’t bother to search.

The Daily Howler writes:

What does it mean when we list “teacher quality” as the number-one reason for “low educational outcomes in low-income schools?” Does it mean this: If you switched the faculties between two schools (low-scoring inner-city; high-scoring suburban), the low-income school would now get the high test scores? Everyone knows that wouldn’t happen-so what exactly does this list mean? We can all imagine superior teachers who could magically transform struggling classrooms; indeed, Kopp seem to imagine such teachers every time she goes on TV. But academic studies don’t seem to have found them in high numbers inside TFA. In our view, it’s time to stop pretending they exist in the types of numbers that would be needed to address the problem we face.

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Teach For America Gets Schooled

CBS News writes:

The Department of Education Inspector General examined a small slice of the group’s federal funding. What they found was shocking.

In all, Teach for America failed to account for half the money audited.

Time and time again the audit said there were no basic records or receipts: None for a $123,878 training expense; none for a $342,428 bill.

Teach for America vice president Kevin Huffman chalks it up to poor record keeping.

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Teach for America gets a bad grade from the Department of Education

OhMyGov! writes:

“Alarm bells start to go off usually when you start seeing a recipient of a grant or an earmark not being able to provide basic information,” said Leslie Paige of government watchdog Citizens Against Government Waste.

Teach for America vice president Kevin Huffman says they just have poor organization and that most of the money does go to teachers. “We’re confident, we’re confident that we spent the money on the training of new teachers,” Huffman said.

Perhaps before the organization gets its infusion of $12 million from the federal government next year, the group should teach itself Accounting 101.

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Special report: Worst interview ever?

The Daily Howler writes:

ENJOY EACH THRILLING INSTALLMENT: Charlie Rose had Wendy Kopp at his table-and the pair may have staged the worst interview ever. Why not read each thrilling installment:

PART 1: Charlie Rose rolled over and died. Kopp seemed like a music man. See THE DAILY HOWLER, 7/10/08.

PART 2: Kopp told Rose some pleasing tales. But were the pleasing tales accurate? See THE DAILY HOWLER, 7/11/08.

Today, in part 3, Rose avoids the studies:

PART 3-AVOIDING THE STUDIES: Teach for America isn’t GM-but it’s no minor enterprise either. A lot of money is involved in the enterprise-and a lot of unfortunate “influence.” Just last month, Sam Dillon profiled TFA founder Wendy Kopp in the New York Times. He offered this overview of the program:

DILLON (6/19/08): Ms. Kopp has built her group into a powerhouse, with an annual budget of $120 million, a national staff of 835, and partnerships with Goldman Sachs, Google and other blue-chip names. This spring, she presided over its most successful campus recruiting campaign, and made Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.

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What “Relentless Pursuit” Reveals About TFA

Alexander Russo of This Week in Education writes:

Hidden inside Donna Foote’s book about four first-year teachers assigned to teach high school in South Central LA is a scathing critique of the teacher training and support program that makes up the first “prong” of Wendy Kopp’s two-pronged Teach For America effort. Having read the book, I can’t imagine any parent encouraging their kid to do this — not the teaching part, but TFA.

While the three subjects I interviewed a few weeks ago still admire the program and say it’s made lots of changes since 2006, few readers of the book will come away with a tremendous amount of confidence in the organization. These four teachers seem to have survived in spite of TFA, not with its assistance.

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“She was the 8th of 16 TFA teachers to quit that school district.”

TFA Dad writes in a comment on The Charlie Rose Show:

My daughter worked for TFA last year and was sent to an inner city school to teach 9th grade English. She taught five classes, two of which were special ed kids who read at a 2nd to 4th grade levels. The special ed kids taunted and threatened her for several months. There was supposed to be a certified special ed teacher in her classroom, but that teacher quit after the first month because she had been threatened. When my daughter sent them to the office, the office sent the students back to the classroom ten minutes later. When she passed out assignments, the kids crumpled up the papers and told her F*** Y**.

The kids walked in and out of her classroom and attended one or two classes a week. Every day of the first month of school, her classrooms were changed. She had 30 kids in a classroom with 15 chairs. In another class, they gave her a computer room with desks facing the wall. My daughter talked with her TFA mentor and said she was at her wits end and asked her for ideas on how to improve the situation. Her TFA mentor told my daughter, “I know what you have to do, but I’m not going to tell you because you need to figure it out for yourself.” After three months, my daughter was confronted and threatened and ultimately broke down in tears and ran for her safety. That’s when my daughter quit. She was the 8th of 16 TFA teachers to quit that school district. Another teacher quit the next month. Unfortunately, the kids in her other three classes were doing great. All A’s and Bs. They are the real losers. But the two classes where she was threatened and confronted did her in. In the end, much of the blame should fall on the administration at her high school. How can they permit students to threaten teachers and send them back in the classroom? They chose to ignore her converns.

But TFA must share the blame because they are more concerned with numbers and statistics of how many teachers they send to so many schools. When eight teachers quit after the first few months for safety reasons, you should take a second look at the schools you’re choosing. Kopp’s inability to explain their teaching methods shows she’s more concerned with positive PR spin than making a difference. Kopp spends her time telling a story about a single successful 4th grade teacher while ignoring all of the well-intentioned graduates who were abandoned and failed. Yet, when my daughter asked a TFA rep for help, she received no advice. These idealistic students from great schools who were leaders in their classes chose to forego lucrative jobs to make a difference in TFA and were ill-prepared for the dangers and challenges they faced. Kopp is living in a dreamworld and my daughter’s experience was a nightmare. TFA may have some success stories but there are just as many failure stories that are not mentioned and ignored by the Karen Salernos and Wendy Kopps.

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